Becoming Human, Becoming Alien
by Fira Wolf-Hunter
Summary: When Emma Whitaker meets her childhood hero, things in her life begin changing. How could she ever love a Martian? One who isn't even supposed to exist? Rated M just in case.
1. Chapter 1

_One_

Emma Whitaker's life, _she_ would say, had always been interesting. Despite living in a sleepy little town near the coast, she would say her life had always had some sort of purpose. At the moment, she was waiting for her first college class to start, and it was her favorite: Mythology. She had always been interested in those sorts of things, even when she was a child. She grew up as a single child with just her mother. When she was eleven, her mother had told her that her father had run off as soon as he found out she was pregnant. Emma didn't care. She'd never met the man, so why would she? She and her mother were happy enough.

Alice Whitaker worked as the town's weather girl on the local news. It wasn't much, but they made enough. Not enough, however, to send Emma to a university, and so, here she was, in her town's one community college, not quite sure what she wanted to do with herself.

It was early morning and there were not many people about. No one liked having college classes this early, it seemed. Emma didn't understand why not. She figured if you just got them all over early, you could have the rest of the day to do whatever you liked. But she didn't mind. It meant that in the mornings she was here, she essentially had the campus to herself, except for a few others here and there.

On this particular morning, it was windy, cloudy, and cold. It looked like it might rain, even. Emma sighed with contentment. She loved the rain. She had bundled up that morning, so she knew the cold wouldn't affect her. As she looked around the near empty campus, something strange happened to the air. Suddenly, Emma felt all of her hair lift up, but it wasn't from the wind. It was if the air was suddenly charged with electricity.

Emma sat and didn't move. She could _feel_ that something odd was happening. Slowly, she began to look around, afraid that maybe the rain would start and she would get struck by lightning. But the rain never did start. The electricity stayed in the air for a few more seconds, and then suddenly, it died down all at once, and Emma felt her hair go back to normal. Scrunching her eyebrows in confusion, she looked up at the sky, wondering what all the fuss was about if nothing was even going to happen.

As her eyes wandered from the sky, they alighted upon a man who was standing a little ways off. Emma did not remember seeing him before, and she did not remember seeing anyone walking by her, either. But she let it go. She smiled vaguely to him, as people often do when they notice that they have accidentally looked directly into someone's eyes while passing them on the street or elsewhere.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and she was just beginning to look away, when it registered to her that this man she had been smiling to had _green skin_. And his eyes had been so serious, and were a red-gold color. The smile left her face, and her head snapped back to look at him, but this time he looked different. She made sure to study him closely, even though she knew it was rude to stare. Now he was just an average college student. An African American man who looked to be in his early twenties. His eyes were a normal brown, and he was wearing a black hoodie, a pair of jeans, and sneakers.

His eyes, though. Despite being a normal _color_, they did not look _normal_. He still wore an odd, almost melancholy expression in them, as if he was hiding away some unspoken tragedy at all times. He looked like a man haunted by the past.

He was staring directly at her. He was not smiling. Just staring. Quite obviously. As if he thought _he_ had seen something odd about _her_ as well. It was very strange, this whole encounter. It only lasted a few seconds, but Emma felt as if she had locked eyes with this man for centuries.

And then something changed. Emma began to feel disoriented and a little dizzy. She was glad she was sitting down. A fog seemed to enter her mind, and she began to forget what she had seen before – the man with the green skin and red-gold eyes. That man's face began to disappear from her mind's eye, as if someone was sucking the memory out of her brain.

But Emma did not want to forget. She felt somehow _connected_ to this man, whoever he was. He felt somehow _familiar_. Like an old friend. And then, as the last remnants of his face began to pull away from her memory, she realized with a desperate feeling who he was. Before she could doubt herself, she screamed in her mind, _No, J'onn!_

The sound of a sudden intake of breath washed over her thoughts. It was his breath. His surprise. And slowly, Emma regained the memory.

_So it is you?_ she asked quietly. _J'onn J'onzz? The Martian Manhunter of the Justice League? What are you doing _here_? In _this _dimension? You don't exist here, J'onn._

_How do you know who I am?_

Those were the first words he ever spoke to her.

She laughed. _I've always known you existed. Somewhere. I've always been one to believe that anything anyone ever creates in their minds exists in reality on some level. And superheroes are so well known throughout the world that how could you _not_ exist somewhere?_

_Is that so? You've always known I existed somewhere…?_

_Yes. But you didn't answer my question. How did you get here? To this dimension?_

_I went through a portal created by an evil man back in my own… dimension. He thought he had found a connection to Hades, and he was going to use the portal to gather an army of demons so that he could bring them back and take over my world._

_When you say… your world… Are you talking about Earth, or Mars?_

_I am talking about Earth. The Earth from my dimension. I saw the man enter the portal and went through to stop him, thinking I was entering Hades, but when I arrived, I was here. _

_I guess the bad guy got it wrong._

_Yes._

They were both silent, staring at one another across the space, and then J'onn came over to her and thought, _May I sit down?_

_Of course._

He sat. And they were silent again. And then he thought to her, _You said that superheroes are well known throughout this dimension. How much do the humans here really know about us?_

_That depends. Is anything we know exactly the way it is in _your _dimension? What if _you_ are not the J'onn that I know, and somewhere else there are another million J'onns wandering around another million dimensions? Which J'onn am I talking to right now? The one from the comic books, or the one from the cartoons? And which comic books? And which cartoons? And which movies, even? There are so many versions of you even in _one _dimension, that I cannot really answer your question._

_Hmm…_

_Although…_ Emma put her chin in her hand, thinking.

_Yes?_

_You _did _look a lot like the version of you from the cartoon that I used to watch as a child. There was a cartoon on the TV that they don't show anymore. It was just called _Justice League_. And later there was _Justice League Unlimited_. In it, there was you, and Superman, and Batman, Wonderwoman, the Flash, Hawkgirl, and the Green Lantern. You guys were the original founders. After that other superheroes started trickling in. Like Green Arrow, or whatever his name is. Really, I don't remember the others. Does any of this sound familiar?_

_Yes. I am a part of the Justice League. I have been for many years now._

_Then that's probably the version of you that I am talking to right now. Or at least the closest version. Besides, it must be. Your voice is the same. Which is funny to me, because that means that there is someone wandering around this Earth with the exact same voice as you, since obviously someone had to voice act you for the cartoon._

_Does this mean that… everyone who ever watched that cartoon… knows everything… about all of us?_

Emma looked up at him, and she could almost see his real self beneath the man he was pretending to be. _Maybe not _everything_, J'onn,_ she thought quietly. _I know that must seem awful. That all of your secrets are laid bare. But honestly, I don't remember much of that cartoon. Except for a few things._

_Like what?_

_You really want me to tell you how much I know about your past?_

_It might be that some of the things you think you know are not actually true to this version of myself._

She looked ahead, at the sky. _Your version of Mars… there's no one left, is there?_

_Other Martians, you mean? No. There is no one left._

_And you… always thought you failed them. Your family. Because it was your job to keep them safe. At least, that's what you thought._

_It _was _my job._

_See?_

_But it _was_. They were _my_ family. What am I saying? They _are _my family. And because of me…_

_You did everything you could, J'onn._

He sighed and put his head down. _I know. I have grieved them enough already._

_And… the White Martians. It was your job to keep them locked up. But then a group of astronauts came to Mars, right?_

_Yes. And captured me. And released the beings who had destroyed my species and my planet. They brought me back to Earth and afterwards, I tried calling out telepathically to anyone out there who could hear me, and Superman came and rescued me._

_Then you _are _the version I know._

_It would seem so._

Emma was silent for a long while, giving him space to think. _Does it bother you?_ she finally asked. _That I know… a lot about you? Maybe things you don't want anyone to know?_

_To an extent, it does bother me. But I have read your emotions, and you seem genuine, not the kind of person to exploit someone's feelings or thoughts._

_Of course not._

_You said you did not remember much of the cartoon. It seems you remember an awful lot of it._

Emma blushed, continuing to look up at the sky. _You were always my favorite. Of the Justice League, I mean._

_Thank you._

She laughed softly. _For what? Everybody attaches to a character they think they relate to. You always seemed the sort of person who would quietly be someone's best friend._

_Quietly?_

_You seemed so peaceful most of the time. I always thought you were the heart of the group. The one who just wanted everyone to get along and be happy, even while, in the beginning, you were still grieving inside. Instead of being angry and resentful, you spent your time trying to help others. That's what I mean by quietly. And besides… you're extremely charming, you know. And you've got the most soothing voice. It sounds like I'm listening to warm caramel anytime you say something. I know that doesn't make any sense._

_Actually, it does. Being connected to a person's thoughts makes it easy to understand what they mean when they say things, even if they don't quite know what they mean themselves._

_This situation is odd._

_I think so, too._

_I mean… shouldn't you be going… somewhere? You have to go capture the bad guy and be on your way, right? And I'm late to my class now._

J'onn nodded. _Yes. I should be going._

_You should be careful, J'onn. Remember, you're not supposed to exist here. You can't go flying around anywhere, and make sure not to revert back into Martian Mode._

He smiled at her. _I'll be careful._ He took a breath and stood up, facing her as she continued to sit. _I should wipe your memory. It would be easier. You would not be able to slip up and accidentally tell someone that you met me._

Emma looked into his eyes, and as she stared, she saw the blurred image of himself as he usually was, purple cape and all. His eyes lost their pupils and became the red-gold color she always used to love as a kid. She knew she was only seeing him like this in her mind. Knowing she was about to lose all memory of her childhood hero, she said, aloud and in her thoughts, _"I always thought you had beautiful eyes."_

With that, she closed her eyes and waited for the moment where this memory disappeared forever. The moment never came. After spending what seemed an eternity with her eyes closed, she finally opened them again. J'onn J'onzz was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

_Two_

The next two weeks went by painfully slowly for Emma. Life seemed boring to her now, compared to what she knew J'onn must be doing, chasing down bad guys and beating them up. She laughed at herself anytime she thought about it. She was sure J'onn did not think of his job as fun. He was probably more saddened by it than anything, being so against harming people. She wasn't sure what made her think that he _was_ against harming people. Maybe it was something she knew about him because of their brief encounter, although neither one of them had mentioned it.

Emma found it difficult to concentrate on anything. She pushed through her classes and homework for college, though where she had once found joy in the pursuit of knowledge, she now found herself growing bored of sitting through lectures. Even her mother noticed that she was not her usual self. One day, as Emma sat at the table and did her homework, her mother came over to her and asked, "How are you feeling, honey?"

"Hmm?" Emma looked up from the paper she was writing. "Oh. Fine, Mom. Why?"

"I don't know." Alice sat down in a chair at the table. "You've been acting… strange lately."

"Like how?"

"Well… you seem almost sick. Agitated, not really paying attention when I try to talk to you. Is something wrong?"

Emma knew she could never tell her mother the truth. She understood that J'onn had let her keep the memory under the presumption that she would never tell a living soul. "Everything's fine," she said, plastering on a smile. "I've just been a little stressed with college, that's all. I have a lot to get done in a short amount of time. After next week, I should be okay again because my workload will go down."

Her mother believed the lie and looked relieved. "If that's all, then I'm glad. I've been worried about you. I was afraid you had become depressed or something."

Emma laughed genuinely. "No, Mom, I'm not depressed."

Alice smiled at her daughter and then stood from the table. "I'm glad we talked."

"Me too."

Her mother went down the hallway into her bedroom, and Emma sighed and slumped forward, putting her face in her hands. In her head, she thought, _Maybe you really _should _have taken the memory, J'onn._

But, like always, he did not answer her. She didn't even think he could hear her. When they had spoken those few weeks ago on the bench, she had been able to feel his presence in her mind. Now there was nothing, and she had never felt so lonely in her own thoughts before. She felt strange when she thought about him, wondering how he was and if he was even still in her dimension. Maybe had had gone back already and had forgotten all about her.

Emma shook her head. This was no way to think. Of course there was no reason for him to still be thinking of her. And she really shouldn't be thinking of him either. But then… why had he let her keep the memory? He must have decided it was important for her to keep it. And even if he was doing it just to be nice, there still had to be a reason.

_Like what?_ she asked herself.

No answer came, either from J'onn, or from her own mind.

* * *

That night, Emma had an extremely vivid dream, one she would remember for the rest of her life. The first odd thing about the dream was that it took place in first person, which did not normally occur in dreams. Most dreams were in third person, with the dreamer looking down on the scene from above. Or, at least, that's how most of _her_ dreams were. But not this one. In this dream, she was looking through her own eyes.

It was nighttime, and it was cold wherever it was. She could see hear breath in the air. As she walked down the sidewalk, she began to notice that she was not in control of her body. She seemed to be only an observer, letting her body carry her around but not able to change anything. As she walked, she wondered where she was. None of the buildings looked familiar, and it never got _this _cold where she lived.

Suddenly, her body went rigid, and her eyesight began moving outside of the limitations of her body, as if someone had attached her sight to a moving camera, and now the camera was zooming down the sidewalk ahead of her and into an alleyway a few blocks away. Inside this alleyway was a shadow. She knew the shadow was a man. Somehow, she also knew that the man was bad.

She started walking again, her body loosing its rigidity. She began to wonder if she was even inside her _own_ body, or if she was traveling with someone _else_. Her movements – or _their_ movements – were fluid and graceful. She was never this graceful. And she – they – walked without making a sound. She wished she could move her head to see whose body she was in. It was then that she realized she was dreaming.

At first, Emma was excited. She had never had a lucid dream before, though she had always wanted to have one. But then she had another realization. People who became aware that they were dreaming either woke up, or were able to _control_ some aspect of the dream. She'd heard that looking down at one's hands might be enough to gain more control, but as hard as she tried, she was still just an observer.

Was she having a vision? But about _who_? Almost as if whoever was controlling this had heard her, she looked down at the ground for a moment, and saw her feet, which were covered in… _purple boots_?

_Oh my God,_ she thought. _J'onn._

No one answered. She thought louder, _J'onn! J'onn J'onzz! Hey!_

He did not respond.

Emma sighed inwardly. _Okay. I guess I'm just here for the ride. You probably can't hear me. But what are you doing? Are you following a bad guy?_ She knew he would not answer, but she asked anyways, hoping he might subconsciously be aware of her to a degree and answer accidentally.

He did, in fact, turn and look over his shoulder, as if thinking someone was behind him.

_No, you should be paying attention to your _mind_, J'onn. I'm _here_. Why can't you hear me?_ When no one answered again, she thought, _Okay. I'll stop talking for now. Just take me wherever you're taking me. Obviously I'm having this vision for a reason._

In a few minutes, J'onn entered the alleyway that he had checked earlier. Emma saw the shadow in the corner. She saw him pull out a gun.

_No_, she thought.

"I know you are here," J'onn said to the shadow. "There is no need for that. Why don't you come quietly?"

"Fuck that!" the man shouted. He stepped into the light, aimed the gun, and fired.

And suddenly pain tore through Emma's right shoulder. She screamed, and sat up in bed, clutching it. And the pain was gone instantly. Still, she sat and held her shoulder. And thought desperately, _J'onn!_

No one answered.

_Goddamn it! __**J'onn!**_

_Emma?_

_Jesus, J'onn! Are you okay? You were just _shot_!_

_Hold on._

_Okay._

And so she waited. A few long minutes past, that to her felt like centuries. Not once did she let go of her shoulder. She realized she was shaking and in a cold sweat. Her sleep shirt clung to her.

_Finally_, his voice entered her mind once more.

_Are you all right, Emma?_

_I should be asking _you _that!_

_I am fine. I knocked him out and took his gun, and have already healed my shoulder. But how did you know?_

_You couldn't tell I was there the _whole time_?_

He was silent for a moment. Emma could _feel_ him formulating the right response. Thinking behind the scenes. She got a sense of how his mind worked for a split-second. It was a labyrinth of color and emotion, and confused her senses. Sitting in her room, she saw images flash before her eyes.

He chuckled. _My mind is probably not the best place for a human to be. You could get lost forever in there, Emma. To answer your question, I thought I could feel…_ something_ following me. _

_Which is why you looked behind you, right?_

_What exactly happened? How were you there with me?_

_I… I don't know. I went to sleep and started dreaming that I was walking down a street I didn't recognize. And then… I guess you used one of your powers to scout ahead into the alleyway, because now I know how Martian vision works. But then I realized I was dreaming, and then realized that I couldn't control anything even though I knew I was dreaming. And I started wondering if maybe I wasn't _dreaming_ and having a _vision_ instead. And then I wondered whose body I was in, and then you looked at the ground and I saw your boots and realized it was you and tried to call you but you couldn't hear me. So I just sort of… went along with it. Not like I had a choice. And then you got shot and the pain woke me up and I was so scared for you that I guess I finally broke through to you._

Emma blushed, realizing that she had just gushed a ton of information way too fast. _Sorry._

_Too fast for a human, perhaps,_ he thought._ I had no trouble keeping up._

_Are you back in your own dimension?_

_Yes._

_How are we talking then? Shouldn't that be impossible?_

_After everything that has happened between us so far, you still think some things are impossible, Emma?_

_You're right. I really shouldn't be surprised. So, I guess that means the portal was closed or destroyed, right?_

_Yes._

Emma sighed.

_You are saddened by this. You were hoping maybe we could see each other again?_

_Of course I was. Don't pretend you don't know _exactly_ what I'm thinking. There's no point in that. Either read all of my thoughts or none._

_You really want me that deep in you?_

She blushed. _That sounds like something else _entirely_._

_I used the euphemism for a reason. To know one's surface thoughts is one thing. To know _all_ of their thoughts is another. You want me to know every deep dark secret? Every fantasy? Everything that you have ever been embarrassed about, or sad about, or angry about? _

Emma was quiet for a long time, thinking about the implications of this. _Well…_ she finally answered, _it only seems fair, doesn't it? I know a lot of things about you that you probably wish I didn't._

_That is true. But I don't really believe in an eye-for-an-eye mentality._

_What if I _wanted _you to know? For no other reason than because I _wanted_ you to know?_

_Then I would be flattered, I suppose. Although I would tell you to be careful._

_Why? Because we're a different species? From different dimensions? Because if any villains found out they might use it against you? Because you're what – a thousand years old or something? Because you think I'm not mature enough to understand that it would make a lot of people uncomfortable? Trust me. I've thought about this._

_I can see that. But now I have to ask you when we started talking about a relationship that goes beyond friendship. Because that is all _I _was talking about. But I can see that you were not._

Emma was shocked. He was right. He had caught her before she had caught herself. _Maybe we should stop talking for tonight._

_So that you can hide. I understand._

_How dare you?_

_You told me to read all of your thoughts or none of them. I just read all of them. Make up your mind, Emma._

She didn't know what to say.

_This is one of the reasons I wanted to wipe your memory. Humans have a tendency to become infatuated with things that are different than they are. You think you are in love with me. Really, you are curious. Nothing more._

_Why didn't you? Wipe my memory, I mean._

_You told you thought I had beautiful eyes. I was flattered._

_That's bullshit, J'onn. You say you should have wiped my memory because you knew I would become "infatuated" with you, and yet the reason you didn't is because I told you that you had beautiful eyes. Should that not have been a red flag to you?_

_Learning to become more human means sometimes embracing hypocrisy. Besides, you are happy I let you keep your memory of me, are you not?_

_That should be beside the point._

_What happened is over and done. What matters is where we go from here._

_I'm always going to be mentally connected to you now, aren't I?_

_Perhaps. Perhaps not. I really do not know the answer. Only time will tell._

Emma sighed. _I don't know _why _I'm arguing about this, anyways. It's something I… well, I _want_. So I don't know why I feel like I have to argue against it._

_You are afraid I will not accept you._

_Those words suggest more than friendship, J'onn._

_So you caught me. Now we're even._

Emma could feel the smile in his words. _I don't understand you._

_In time, you might._

_If you let me._

_Yes._


	3. Chapter 3

_Three_

Weeks passed this way. The two of them spoke more and more often. Sometimes Emma would open her mind to him only to find him telling her that he was busy fighting off a monster or chasing down a bad guy. She would leave him alone during these times, not wanting to distract him from his job. Surprisingly, she didn't worry about him much. She'd seen the cartoon enough to know that he could handle himself on the job. Afterwards, he would always contact her, saying that everyone was all right, and she would congratulate him for saving the world – _again_.

And so it became routine. Mostly, she would talk to him at night, lying in bed during those hours before she became tired. She'd always had trouble sleeping, so their conversations gave her the perfect excuse to stay up late. They would talk about anything and everything. And sometimes they would say nothing, simply enjoying each other's presence. It was almost like they were actually there together. In fact, to Emma, it somehow felt _closer_ than that.

J'onn's presence in her mind was almost a physical thing. A living, breathing creature that filled up the empty places and replaced them with happy memories of his own. Living on Mars, growing up as a boy in a place that was exotic to Emma. His first Christmas spent on Earth, at Superman's house – which she already knew about, but still found amusing and adorable. It was this memory, in fact, that caused her to ask if he liked to sing. That Christmas J'onn had spent in the Kent Household, he had woken with the dawn and sung a song in his native tongue. Emma, who experienced this memory as if it were her own, thought that he had a beautiful voice, and asked him if he actually sang as a hobby, or if that had been a sort of spur of the moment thing.

What he has said, instead of answering her question, was, _Would you like me to sing to you?_

_Really?_ she asked.

_Of course. The years spent around humans has helped me become less shy. And besides, it is only you._

_Okay. Then sing, if you want._

And so, he sang her a song that was beautiful. It was a mix between English and Martian, which Emma thought was ingenious and intoxicating. But even the English words did not really help her to understand the complexity of what he was singing, and once again, she felt she had a glimpse of how his mind worked. As he sang, her thoughts were filled with flashes of images: the sea as a storm raged, and afterwards when the waves were calm. A sun-dappled glade in the middle of a forest. A beautiful Martian canyon, the rock layers a multitude of colors that Emma did not think rocks could be. A flock of mysterious-looking birds flying in a red sky. All of these images, and the smells and sounds that accompanied them, bombarded Emma's senses, but in a good way. It was an orgasm of the senses, and when J'onn had finished his song, she was exhausted and joyful.

Afterwards, her mind was woefully silent, as if all the white noise of her thoughts had been sucked from her brain, and she found it difficult to form coherent sentences or images for a while. Random flickers of light flitted across her closed eyelids. After about five minutes of silence, she thought to him, with no shame, _I wonder if this is what it would feel like to make love to you._

_Probably something close to this, yes. _His voice was soft and gentle, like a warm breeze._ Although, I would not know for sure, as I have never had sex with a human before._

_Thank you, J'onn. That was… _Somewhere back in the physical realm, she felt tears slide down her cheeks. _There are no words._

He said nothing, but she could feel his joy.

_I only wish I could return the favor_, she thought.

_You can, in your own way. I would never expect you to know the art that is Martian singing, but… I have told you much of myself. Perhaps now you could share with me some of your own memories?_

_I don't understand. The only reason you have to share your memories is because if I dove into your mind, it would be a lot harder to get out than the other way around. I've told you – look into my memories all you want._

_And I have. Only… I don't know where to start to get a clear picture of your idea of yourself. Looking into a human's memories is like living through the event as if I _were_ the person. But there are some things I cannot learn about someone from doing that. I can learn much about you through the memories you _choose_ to share with me._

_I think I understand. Let me think about it. I'll choose a memory. Or maybe three._ She smiled. Sifting through the memories she could think of, she came across one she knew he would enjoy. It was of her and her mother when she was a little girl, playing at the beach on a warm summer day.

She opened her mind and let the memory flow between them, making sure to guide him to certain things that she enjoyed, like building her first sandcastle and getting bowled over by a giant wave that really wasn't that giant at all. The memory filled her with amusement, especially since she was able to witness it from both points of view at the same time. Since she was _showing_ the memory to J'onn, he was able to see it in third person, and because their minds were connected, it was like she was watching a TV show from two angles at once. It was a little confusing, but also entertaining because she got to watch herself as a four-year-old.

J'onn chuckled, and the sound bounced around her mind and made her think of certain naughty things, until he said, _You were adorable at that age._

She smiled.

_You seem like a very content person, Emma._

_I'd like to think I am. I've had a pretty happy life so far._

They said nothing else for a little while, and then Emma thought of something and wondered why she hadn't before. _Remember a few weeks ago when you got shot?_

_Yes._

_You said you had healed yourself… I didn't know you _could_ heal yourself. Maybe it was something the makers of the cartoon didn't know._

_Actually, I really didn't… _heal_ myself the way that you're thinking. All I did was grow new skin and bone around the area that had been wounded, and when I did that, it pushed the bullet out of my body. Being able to shapeshift has its advantages._

_I see. Have you told the rest of the Justice League about me?_ The question surprised even Emma, but she did not take it back.

_No, although Diana suspects something of the sort. She can read emotions almost as well as I can._

Will_ you tell them about me? Ever?_

_Do you _want_ me to, Emma?_

_Well… I don't know. I think what I really want is to meet them all. I think that would be exciting. But… I know there's not really a way to do that. I'll probably never even see _you_ again. Maybe we shouldn't even be doing this, J'onn. You know what they say. Long-distance relationships don't work out. And we're about as long-distance as you could get._

_Actually, we're probably closer than a lot of people. Dimensions are like pieces of paper, stacked on top of one another. They are separate, but always touching. Besides, I think I might be able to come back and visit soon._

_How? You said you destroyed the portal you came through, right?_

_No, I didn't. You asked me if the portal had been either destroyed or _closed_ and I said yes._

_So… you only _closed _the portal?_

_That is correct. You can thank Batman for that. He said it might come in handy one day. He even moved it into the Watchtower so that he could study it more closely. The only problem is that there is no portal in _your_ dimension to bring me back._

_So, how did you get back last time?_

_Luck, mostly. The man who built the portal was carrying a device in his pocket that, when pressed, brought me back to my own dimension, where it promptly exploded. I guess he thought he wouldn't need a backup._

Emma laughed. _You guys are crazy. Stuff like that never happens here, and nobody _ever_ has that much luck. I think it's because you're superheroes._

_Perhaps._

Emma yawned.

_You should sleep._

_I don't want to. You're so interesting._

He laughed. _I'll be just as interesting in the morning as I am right now._

She pouted. _You're no fun._

_How about this? The sooner you go to sleep, the sooner I can convince Batman to help me build another one of those devices so that I can go through the portal and see you._

As she rolled onto her side to go sleep, she thought, _Why do you want to see me, anyways? I'm a little girl compared to you._

_Not really. On Mars, it was mental age that counted once you hit puberty._

That made her remember something. _Um… J'onn?_

_Hmm?_

_Speaking of puberty, is the reason they never showed you in your natural form without genitals because you don't _have_ any as a Martian, or because it was a cartoon for kids?_

He was silent for a while, and then he said, in a voice deeper than normal, _Maybe soon you will find out for yourself._

Emma blushed and hid her face in the pillow even though she knew it wouldn't do any good. _That was a little too forward._

She felt him smile. _I don't think so. I think you rather enjoyed it. Now, goodnight, Emma._

She took a deep breath through her mouth and released it through her nose, smiling. _Goodnight, J'onn._


	4. Chapter 4

_Four_

Emma couldn't believe it had already been two months since the first time she had met J'onn. She sat bundled up on a bench at school, pulling her jacket tighter around herself to keep warm, and looked at the sky. It looked familiar, the sky. It looked the way it did the day he had come through the portal.

His presence tickled her mind, and she let him in. _Still thinking about me?_ he asked.

_Of course I am. I'm _always _thinking about you._

_I am flattered._

_You're _always _flattered._

_Why wouldn't I be? I've got a beautiful girl thinking about me._

_For a Martian, sometimes you say some very human things._

_I've been on Earth for fourteen years. Human tendencies have begun to rub off on me._

_I like it better when you're…_

_Exotic and mysterious?_

_I was going to say 'tall, green, and handsome.'_

_Clever._

_I try._

_I have something to tell you, Emma._

_What is it?_

_Perhaps it would be better if we spoke… in person._

_What…_

And at that moment, the air was charged with electricity. A strange feeling went down Emma's spine, and she sat up straight, looking around. She knew what was happening, and her breathing quickened in anticipation. _J'onn?_

"Yes, Emma?"

She jumped and whipped her head around. There he was, standing beside the bench, smiling at her. He was just another college student again, wearing the same black sweatshirt and sneakers. Beneath the brown eyes of his façade, she saw a flash of red-gold.

"J'onn!" Emma vaulted from the bench and turned, just as he stepped forward to embrace her. She seemed to tumble forward into his arms. Everything was suddenly overwhelming, and she burst into tears, face buried against his chest. "I'm sorry," she said in between breaths. This crying confused her, and she probably looked like an idiot.

"_Don't,"_ he said, both aloud and in his mind. _"You have no reason to apologize to me, Emma."_

She swallowed and nodded, taking gasping breaths that eventually became regular again. The tears stopped. Emma looked up at him – and frowned. _It's not right that you have to pretend to be someone you're not here. As happy as I am to see you, I'm not really seeing _you_, am I? I'm seeing this – this _mask_!_ She thumped a hand on his chest._ And it makes me angry!_

_Emma…_ He gave a small smile, running a thumb along her jaw, which gave her chills. _It is not what is on the outside that matters. In here _– he touched a finger to her forehead – _and in here_ – he touched a finger her to chest – _I am still the same J'onn J'onzz that I have always been._

Emma sighed. _I know._

_Do you have class soon?_

_No. I just got out, actually._

_Would you like to go get some late lunch?_

She scrunched her eyebrows at him. _Is this a date?_

His eyes twinkled, another flash of red-gold showing through. _If you would like to see it that way._

A big smile spread across her face. "Okay," she said aloud. "Let me call my mom and tell her I'll be hanging out with a friend for a few hours. I feel like I shouldn't have to, since I'm an adult, but if I don't tell her where I am, she freaks out."

J'onn laughed. "Even _I_ understand _that_. I, too, had a mother once."

Emma pulled her cellphone from her purse and speed-dialed her mother. As she put the phone to her ear, she smiled at J'onn. _You have the best smile._

_Thank you._

"Hi, honey," came Alice Whitaker's voice through the phone. "What's up?"

"Can I go have lunch with a friend before coming home?" Emma asked.

"Which friend?"

"Uh… a guy friend?"

"How old is he?"

Emma looked at J'onn's human face. She raised an eyebrow.

_Twenty_, J'onn thought to her.

"He's twenty, Mom. Don't worry. I'm not going out with an old man."

"Is he nice?"

Emma laughed. "Yes, he's nice, Mother. Do you want to talk to him?"

Alice was silent, thinking for a moment. "No, that's okay," she finally said. "But if he touches you –

"He won't. J'onn's not like that. And I'm not just saying that."

"_Zjon_? Sounds foreign."

Emma laughed. "He's not. His parents just wanted to put a spin on the name John."

"Hm. Okay. I'll stop pestering you. Have fun! And be home by ten."

"Okay, Mom. Thanks."

They said goodbye and hung up.

Emma laughed. "_Zjon_?" she said, repeating her mother's skeptical voice.

"You should have told her I_ was_ foreign. That would have been closer to the truth."

"Oh sure. Yeah, Mom, don't worry. He's _just_ a _Martian_." Emma looked around. _Sorry_, she thought to him. _Probably should have said that in my head._

_No one's listening. So, where would you like to eat? I would suggest a place, but I'm… a foreigner._ He cracked a grin.

_Oh, haha. Who's paying?_

I_ am, of course. I brought money with me because I thought you might say yes to a date._

_How sweet… Are you a vegetarian?_

_How did you know?_

She blinked at him. _J'onn… Our minds are linked. We can read each other's thoughts. Besides, it's… It seems like something you would be. Believing all life is precious and all that. So, no fast-food places, then. How about the café?_

The_ café? From your memories, I am guessing you're talking about the Bluewater Café?_

_Yes. It's where my friends from high school and I would go to hang out after school sometimes. After everyone else went off to big universities, I was the only one left, really. I haven't been to the café in a year, at least._

J'onn took her hand and they began walking. _Why didn't you go to a university like your friends?_

_I'm not ready. I love it here too much. I've grown up in Bluewater Bay my whole life. I don't want to leave it now. And besides, I don't even know what I want to do. I haven't chosen a major yet._

_Perhaps ufology?_

Emma snickered. _I don't think I could get that as a major… I don't even know if it exists as a teachable class in college. Probably not. I don't think ufologists are very… respected here. I'm not even sure if ufology is a word beyond science-fiction novels._

_Do people here believe in aliens?_

_In general? I don't have a clue. I _always_ have, but that's just me. I'm weird._

_I don't think you are._

_That's because you're weird, too._

_Oh._

* * *

A little while later, they were sitting at a window booth at the Bluewater Café. Emma knew immediately what she was getting. During the months of October through January, the café made all their holiday food, and the pumpkin soup was _amazing_.

"What's good here?" J'onn asked.

Emma smiled. "Everything."

He looked up at her with a deadpan expression on his face.

She could just imagine how much funnier it would look if he was in his regular Martian form. She tried not to laugh. "No, _really_. Everything _is_ good here." She slid out from her side of the booth and sat down next to him. "Look," she said, taking the menu from his hands. "What are you hungry for? They've got pasta, salad. _Great_ soup. That's what I'm getting."

"Hmm… Actually, soup _does_ sound good to me."

She turned her head to look at him. "You're not just going to get what I get so it makes me feel better, are you?"

He turned his head as well, lifting an eyebrow. "Why would I ever do that?"

Suddenly, Emma realized how close they were. She could feel his breath on her face. He tilted his head to the side slightly, looking at her more closely.

"Yes?" she asked nervously.

He moved toward her, tilting his head downward.

She turned her head away from him. _Not like this_, she thought quietly. _The day you let me see you in your _natural form_ is the day you can kiss me._

_Do you mean the me in boots and a cape, or the me who wears nothing and has an oddly-shaped head compared to you?_

_The second one._

_That's a big step._

_I know._

_I might frighten you._

_If the cartoon you is as accurate as it has been, I've already seen what you look like, and you don't look that bad. Your eyes are a little… creepy, but._

"Um…"

J'onn looked up. Emma turned to see who had spoken and nearly slapped herself in the forehead when she realized it was just the waitress.

"I… I can come back later…?" the girl said, smiling nervously.

Emma turned to look at J'onn, and then back at the waitress.

_She thought we were… _sharing a moment, J'onn thought.

_Oh. Well, we were, weren't we?_

_I think so._

Emma shook herself. "No, that's okay," she said to the poor girl who was standing there. "Um, can I have the pumpkin soup, please?"

"Uh-huh," the girl said, taking out her notepad to write it down.

Emma noticed she was staring at J'onn in a very… dreamy fashion. Just as she felt a twinge of jealousy, J'onn thought to her, _There's no need for that. I've found that even in disguise, for some reason, women flock to me. It's a bit… distressing sometimes._

_No wonder you thought I was infatuated with you. What, does this just _happen_ to you all the time?_

_Not _all_ the time, but often, yes._

_How awkward._

_Yes. I think they must be able to tell that I am _different_, but they cannot quite figure out _how_ I am different._

_Well, how did _I_ figure it out?_

_The first time I came through the portal, I arrived not knowing what to expect and it took me a second to shapeshift out of my crime-fighting outfit. Your eyes happened to pass over me just as I was changing._

_What luck. Crap. J'onn, she's waiting for you to tell her what you want._

"I'll have the pumpkin soup, as well, please."

"Alrighty." The waitress giggled. "What'll you have to drink?"

"A chai tea latte, please," Emma said.

"A mocha, if you have them," J'onn said.

"Of course we have them, silly," the girl replied, giggling again. "You must be new in town."

_Oh, dear God,_ Emma thought. _She's obsessed._

_I told you._

"Okay, so we have two pumpkin soups, a chai tea latte, and a mocha. Will that be all?"

"Yes," Emma said.

The waitress lingered for a moment, and then giggled one last time and pranced off.

Emma laid her head down on the table, sighing. "Kill me now," she muttered.

J'onn laughed. The sound echoed in her mind like it always did. _You can go to sleep at night knowing that I am in the midst of a giant battle with some robotic war machine, and yet, when a girl giggles at me, you become as prickly as a cactus._

_I can't help it. Girls become jealous very easily._

_You can_ too_ help it. Do you think I would cheat on you?_

_Are we even _dating_?_

_I don't know. _Are_ we?_

_Ugh. I asked you first! _Emma looked up at him.

He folded his arms across his chest, raising an eyebrow. _Are we?_ he asked again.

_Well… I _hope _we are._

_Then we are._

_It's _that_ simple?_

_Why would it not be?_

_Oh. I don't know. Because you're a fucking _Martian_, maybe?_

_Why does that bother you _now_ when it didn't before?_

Emma looked away. _Because I thought you would be gone forever. I never thought you would actually _come back_. Now that you have, I… I don't know if I can actually do this._

J'onn reached down and took her hand, squeezing it gently. _Would you like to try?_

She looked up again, smiling a little. _Yes._


	5. Chapter 5

_Five_

After lunch, Emma and J'onn left the Bluewater Café and took a walk on the pier.

"We have a bit of a problem," Emma said to him as she looked out at the water.

"What's that?"

"My mom. Now that she knows I went on a date with a guy, she's going to expect to meet you at some point."

"That's not a problem. I'll walk you home today and she can meet me then."

"Yeah. So we can lie even _more_ to her, right?" Emma scoffed. "I _hate_ lying."

"Me too. But do we really have a choice?"

"We could always tell her the truth and if she freaks out you can wipe her memory."

"I don't like doing that even more than I don't like lying. Invading a person's mind like that is… traumatizing to _both_ parties."

"So why – wait, why are we talking out loud about this?" She switched to telepathy. _So why is it okay to do _this_? Why are we speaking in our minds to each other _at all _if that's a violation of a person's mind?_

_That is different. It's mutual._

_Like sex?_

_Actually, yes. Consider what we are doing now as… consenting mind-sex. If I invaded your mother's mind and stole her memory…_

_It would be like mind-rape._

_Yes._

_You were considering doing that to me once. In fact, I think you almost did the first time I saw you. Everything went foggy for a moment until I realized who you were and called your name._

_Yes. And the entire time I was doing it, I felt unclean. It makes me nauseous, messing with a person's mind like that. In the process of erasing a single memory, I _have_ to go through _every_ memory a person has to make sure I do not overstep the boundaries and erase more than is necessary._

_So… you literally have to learn _everything_ about a person before you can erase even something small._

_Yes._

_Oh shit. Does that mean you know… everything about me?_

_You are paradoxical. You told me it was all right for me to know everything about you._

_Well, yeah, but that was _after_ you tried erasing my memory._

_Don't worry. In those few seconds, I mostly learned trivial things. Like what you had for breakfast that morning._

_That must be so tedious. Having to go through _every single_ memory a person has._

_It is. I hate it. And I do not use the word _hate_ lightly._

_You sound like my mom. Any time I say I hate something, she says, "Hate's a strong word, honey. What you _should _say is 'you really don't like it'."_

J'onn chuckled. The sound came from his chest, almost like a purr. _Your mother is a wise woman._

_You can tell that just from what I told you now?_

_Among other things. I have examined a few of the fleeting memories you think of during the day, and through those, I have begun to piece together an image of your mother's personality. She reminds me much of my _own_ mother._

_I guess some things never change. A mother is a mother, no matter what species she is._

_So true._

They were silent for a while, looking out at the ocean, and then J'onn said, _I have a question for you._

_Yes?_

_Now that Batman has made interdimensional travel easy for me, would you like to come back with me one day to the Watchtower?_

_What, you mean like… back to _your _dimension?_

_Yes._

_Isn't that something you should talk to the Justice League about _first_? I mean, I don't know if they'd appreciate some _girl_ coming in and talking to them. Do they even know about me yet? I would think Batman _has _to know because I don't think he'd offer his help with the portal lightly. But the others…?_

_The others know of you. I have made it clear that I am in a relationship with you, and that you are not from my dimension. They know that you are almost twenty years old and that where you come from, they don't exist. Other than that, I have told them nothing._

_Well, at least they know the most important things. Was anyone opposed to it?_

_They _all_ were, at first. Diana was the first one to lighten up, as she and I have always been close friends. After that, everyone seemed to warm up to the idea. All except –_

_Batman._

_Yes. He is the only one who harbors any real doubt. Which is odd, since he is the one who helped me make the device that will carry me freely between dimensions. He does not trust you, since he knows that you know who we all are._

_Oh. Is he worried I'm going to tell someone that he's actually Bruce Wayne? Because in this dimension, _everybody_ knows that. Just like _everybody _know that Superman is Clark Kent and Flash is Wally West. _

_He's worried you'll tell someone from _my _dimension._

_I don't even _know _anyone from your dimension! But I can't really say that I'm surprised. I mean, it _is_ Batman. He's the epitome of mistrusting._

_I think he just resents the fact that you _know_ a lot of things about him that he considers personal._

_What? That his parents were murdered in front of him and that's why he became Batman? I don't even care about that. I just wish he would learn to be a little less… cold. Of course, _you _were cold, too, in the beginning. But _you_ got over it._

_Yes, after nearly eight-hundred _years_._

Emma turned and stared at him. _So, you really are like… a thousand years old._

He smiled. _Almost. Closer to nine-hundred._

_Still. Jesus. And I told my mother you were only twenty, and _not_ an old man._

He laughed. _In _this_ body, I _am_ only twenty._

_Yeah, but in your head, you're still really old. Not that that bothers me or anything._

_Are you sure about that?_

… _I think so._ Emma turned and faced the water again. _Here's the next problem. Shouldn't the fact that you don't exist here make it impossible for_ _you to exist here now? I mean, why aren't you disappearing or something? You literally _don't _exist here outside of comic books. _

_I'm… not sure why that is. You make a good point, one that I have thought of myself. Perhaps a version of me _does_ exist here, and is only hiding in plain sight, which would explain how _this _version of me is able to exist here._

_Well, _that's _interesting. But having two J'onn J'onzz's in the same dimension… Shouldn't that… I don't know, make the universe implode on itself?_

J'onn laughed. _I think you are thinking too hard about this._

_You're probably right. But… I can't just _leave_ and not tell anyone. What excuse am I supposed to give to my mother? We've already ruled out telling her the truth, which I still think is the best option. Of course, then you might have to mind-rape her and we don't want that._

_I'm not saying you have to come _live _with me. I just meant it might be nice for you to visit sometimes. We could do it at night, when you're 'asleep'. The only problem with that is if someone comes into your room in an emergency and you're not there._

_I could always tell her I'm going on a trip with some friends or something. But then she'll ask who I'm going with and then I'll have to lie again and she'll probably figure that out. Also, even if I _do _go with you, what happens if, while I'm there, you guys have to go off and fight a bad guy?_

_That part is easy. I'll leave you with a few returning devices. All you have to do is press the button and you'll be returned to whatever place you were in last before you left, give or take a few feet._

_Is there any chance I'll end up lodged in a piece of furniture?_

_No. The device finds the most convenient place to put you before it teleports._

_Will it explode once it's used, like yours did the first time?_

_Batman fixed that. That was never supposed to happen in the first place. It was a malfunction in technology that happened because the man who originally built the device was in a hurry; otherwise he might have caught the mistake himself._

_Okay, so I won't die. But that still leaves the convincing-my-mother part._

_You could just tell her that you are an adult now and you want to go spend an afternoon or an evening with your boyfriend somewhere._

Emma looked at J'onn with an expression that said, "You're joking, right?"

_Or not,_ he thought to her.

* * *

About an hour later, the two of them were walking down the sidewalk towards Emma's house. The sun was setting in the sky, turning the clouds pink. It was quite beautiful. But all Emma could think about was her mother's reaction to J'onn.

_Relax, Emma_, he said, squeezing her hand. _Worrying about it will do no good._

She sighed. _I know. But I keep getting this feeling that she's going to figure out that we're hiding something from her._

_She very well might._

_What'll we do then?_

_We may end up having to tell her the truth._

_And then comes the mind-rape._

_I don't like it either._

_You could just _not_ come in. And leave before we get to the door._

_That would be rude._

Emma sighed again. _Ever the gentleman._

_Of course._

_Well, at this point it doesn't matter because we're here._

_Breathe, Emma._

Emma stuck her house key into the lock, turned it, took a hold of the doorknob, twisted, and pushed the door open, dreading every second. With her most cheerful voice, she called out, "I'm home!"

There was no response.

"Mom?" Emma called.

Nothing.

Emma turned and looked at J'onn. "Maybe she's out somewhere. She _did_ tell me to be home by ten. I'm going to call her and –

"Don't bother," J'onn said.

"Why?" Suddenly, she was scared. His tone was serious. "What's wrong?"

"I've done a scan of the house. There's a note on your mother's bed that is addressed to both of us."

"What – I don't understand."

"It says, 'J'onn, you shouldn't leave doors unlocked. You never know what might come through them. Emma, sorry about your mother.' It is signed _C. C._"

"C. C.?"

"Cosmic Clock. He's the man who created the portal."

"So… what? He _stole_ my mother? I thought you… put him in prison!"

"I did. He must have escaped."

Emma sank to the floor. "Fuck…" She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her forehead on them. She didn't know what to do. She was in shock. The fact that her mother was gone was still processing, and in the meantime, she was beginning to get a headache. A bad one. "This would never have happened if we hadn't started seeing each other," she mumbled, not lifting her head.

Slowly, J'onn got onto his knees and placed a hand on her shoulder.

She immediately yanked away, glaring up at him through her hair, which had gone into her face. "Don't _touch _me. And get out of my head. Bring my mother back."

"Emma…" His voice sounded reproachful, like he was scolding her, and it made her angry.

"Don't _Emma_ me. I should never have even talked to you. I should have let you wipe my memory. How could I be so _stupid_? This _always_ happens! Anytime the bad guy knows that the good guy has family, he always uses it against him! He probably tried to go after me first, but once he realized I was with _you_, he went after my mother instead."

"That is probably true."

"Well, go _get _her!"

"Emma, I cannot leave you here by yourself. What if he comes back?"

"I don't care. Go save my mother."

"I am sorry, but I have to take you with me to the Watchtower."

"If you touch me –

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

She eyed him nervously. "What's the hard way?"

"I knock you out."

She scoffed. "You wouldn't lay a _finger _on me."

In his mind, he said, _Must I remind you that I do not have to _touch_ you to make you unconscious?_

She glared at him. "Fine. I'll come with you. But then you and the rest of the Justice League are going to bring back my mother."

"I am in full agreement with you. Now, take my hand." He held it out for her.

She hesitated for a moment, and then took it.

From his pocket, J'onn took a small device that looked like a TV remote with only one button. He pressed it. And the world began to spin.


	6. Chapter 6

_Six_

Emma closed her eyes against the swirling, feeling like she was in one of those spinning teacup rides at Disneyland. She squeezed J'onn's hand, pressing herself against him. He wrapped an arm around her.

_It's almost over_, he said.

Just as he finished the thought, Emma felt solid ground again. Slowly, she looked up at J'onn – and jumped. He was back in the cape and the boots. And green. "Hi."

He smiled at her, and then immediately frowned. "Your mother."

"Right." She backed up and put a hand to her head. "Ugh… How do you _do_ that without getting dizzy?"

"Practice."

"Damn it, J'onn!"

Emma jumped for the second time in fifteen seconds and spun around. Her mouth fell open. Right there in front of her were the other six members of the Justice League. Batman was the one who had spoken. He was glaring behind Emma, teeth bared in anger.

"This is what happens when you meddle with space-time!" Batman continued. "Who was taken? Obviously it wasn't _her_." He spat the last word, and flicked his gaze in Emma's direction.

She flinched, and began unconsciously backing up towards J'onn.

J'onn sighed. "Her mother, Alice Whitaker. Cosmic Clock left a note at her house."

"And what did this note _say_?" Batman asked through clenched teeth. He spoke slowly, as if he thought J'onn was an idiot. He probably _did_ think J'onn was an idiot.

The Martian repeated the words on the note. As he neared the end of the message, Batman turned and slammed a fist into the wall. Emma jumped yet again and took one last step backwards. She felt her back press lightly against J'onn, who took hold of her wrist.

Batman sighed, clutching his hand, and turned to look directly at Emma. She stared back at him with wide eyes. Batman sighed again. "There's no point in yelling now," he said, speaking to J'onn while keeping his eyes locked with Emma's. "You have to go get her mother back."

"We'll come, too."

Emma broke her death gaze with Batman to see who had spoken. From the sound of the voice, she would guess it was Flash. When she looked over at him in his red suit, he smiled a little and stepped forward.

"Not everyone," Batman replied, turning to look at Flash also. "_I_ can't go because I'm the only one who knows how to read the energy waves that the portal gives off. And someone else needs to stay behind to babysit New Girl over here."

Emma glared at the back of his head.

"Don't give me that look," he said.

She looked at the floor in surprise, wondering how he had known.

He turned to face her again. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't even be doing this," he hissed.

"That's enough, Batman," said another voice.

Emma looked up, this time at Superman.

"Superman's right," Wonder Woman added, stepping forward. "Don't you think having her mother be kidnapped is punishment enough?"

Emma took a deep breath and said quietly, "I'm sorry."

Batman scoffed, but Diana – Wonder Woman – said, "Why? You've done nothing wrong."

"If I hadn't tried to make contact with J'onn –

A new voice broke in, laughing. "Oh, please. He was _waiting_ for a chance to go back and see you." The Green Lantern flashed a grin.

"He's right," Hawkgirl chimed in. "There was no way we would have been able to stop him even if we wanted to. And why would we? None of us have ever seen him this happy before. Whatever you're doing to him, keep doing it."

Emma blushed and turned to look up at J'onn. She realized, with a smile, that he looked supremely embarrassed.

"So," Batman said loudly. "Now that we've gotten the misplaced fun out of the way, we need to decide who stays and who goes. And J'onn, you _cannot_ stay here with her."

"Whoa, Bats," Flash said. "Who put _you_ in charge, anyways?"

"Yeah, J'onn can stay with her if he wants to," Hawkgirl added.

"No." It was the first thing J'onn had said in the last five minutes. "It would not be right if I stayed. I should go with the search and rescue party."

"I'll stay with Emma," Diana said, looking around. "I don't mind missing a little action. Besides, there are only two girls in this group, and she might need a girl to talk to."

"What, you think I'm not _girly_ enough?" Hawkgirl challenged, and then laughed good-naturedly.

"Actually –

"I really wouldn't try to answer that if I were you," Green Lantern said, smiling at Diana.

J'onn cleared his throat. "We're wasting time."

"He's right," Superman said. "Let's go."

"How are we going to find…?" Flash looked at Emma questioningly.

"Alice."

"Yeah. How are we going to be able to find Alice?"

"I can help with that," J'onn said. "People who are related have similar mind prints, like DNA. All I have to do is open myself telepathically and search for a mind that is similar enough to Emma's that it should be her mother's, and we'll follow it right to her."

"Don't you remember what happened the last time you did that?" Emma asked quietly. And then she looked around. "Or did that even happen here…?"

J'onn's eyes flashed as he searched Emma's memories for an explanation. A moment later he came back to himself and said, "You are referring to a time in which I opened my mind to the general populace and it ended up nearly driving me insane. The night I rescued a little girl who had gotten lost in the woods. That was many years ago, and I have grown as a person since then, and my powers have gotten stronger. I do not think that will happen this time."

"Okay."

"So, everything's settled, then?" Green Lantern said. "Let's go."

Four members of the Justice League began making their way to the entrance of the Watchtower. Diana, Batman, and J'onn stayed behind. Emma looked up at J'onn. "You have to go with them now."

"I know. I will." He cupped her face in his hands. In his mind, he thought to her, _You still will not kiss me, even in this form?_

She looked away. _No. I'm sorry. But even _this_ you isn't the _real_ you._

He sighed and leaned down slowly. _Don't worry,_ he said, so she wouldn't pull away. He moved his head slightly and gently kissed her cheek. _That will have to do for now. Wish me luck._ He stepped away from her, and then turned and flew away down the hall.

_Good luck_, she thought, touching her cheek.

Emma watched him until he turned the corner and disappeared, and then she sighed and faced Batman. "I know you don't like me," she said. "But once all of this is over, my mother and I will go back to our dimension and you can destroy the portal."

Batman kept his gaze to the monitor. "How very noble of you," he replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Unfortunately, if that happened, I'm not so sure J'onn would recover emotionally. He's lost his family once already. I think he might blame _me_ if he lost it a second time, since he would think you only did it because I got angry at you earlier."

"Even so. It's the only way, unless you _want_ something like this to happen again."

Diana stepped forward. "Don't you think _J'onn_ should have a say in this?"

"I already know what he would say," Emma replied quietly.

"_I _think you're being selfish," Diana said.

"How? I'm doing what's best."

"You're doing this because you're scared. Because nothing like this has ever happened to you and you don't know how to handle it. So, instead of facing it, you're pushing it away. I don't think J'onn would appreciate that. He really does care for you, you know."

Emma sighed. "I know. But… My mother was _kidnapped_ because of my relationship with J'onn! What do you _want_ me to do? Continue to put my family in danger for _love_? That is extremely cliché and irresponsible."

Diana walked up to Emma and put her hands on the girl's shoulders, looking her in the eyes. Quietly, she said, "I don't think you quite understand the severity of the emotional _damage_ J'onn would be in if you abandoned him. Do you have any idea how he has been acting lately? He's been punishing himself because of the danger he's potentially put you in by being in a relationship with you. You can't back out of this now, or he will fold in on himself and never come out again. He _needs_ you, a lot more than you need him, it seems."

As Emma listened, her eyes welled up with tears. As Diana finished speaking, she put her face in her hands and tried to cry quietly. "What have I done to him?" she asked in between sobs.

"Nothing bad," Diana assured her, putting an arm around her shoulders. "You've given him hope. It took him long enough to realize that the Justice League was his family. But it has been too long since he's had a family outside of his job. He loves us dearly, and we all return that love, but it's different between the two of you. He can be… _unprofessional_ about it for the first time since he lost his wife and children on Mars however many hundreds of years ago. It's a release for him. You should be grateful. He's a very caring person. He'd cut off his arm if he thought it would help you."

Emma looked up at Wonder Woman. "I _am_ grateful," she said. "_So_ grateful. He's…" She could not find the words to express the amount of _wonderful _that J'onn was, so she just smiled and shook her head. "I mean, we've only known each other for two months, but it feels like forever. If he asked me never to leave, I might just say _okay_. Really, it's my mother I'm worried about. She's the only family I have left – besides J'onn, obviously. If she were not part of the picture, I might give up my life in my own dimension and live here."

"If everything turns out okay, we might be able to make that happen."

Batman turned from the monitor and glared at the two of them. "No. She'll only get in the way. Being part of the Justice League means _giving up_ relationships, not _starting_ them."

"Superman and Lois seem to do all right," Diana said.

"That's because they only see each other a couple times a month. Honestly, I'm surprised that they've lasted this long. You think J'onn will be okay with that kind of an arrangement? No. I wouldn't be surprised if he came back from this rescue and _proposed_ to her."

"That would be lovely," Diana said, smiling.

"You're missing the point."

"I understand your point completely, Batman. I just don't care."

Emma sighed. "Is there somewhere I can lay down? You guys are giving me a headache."

Diana laughed. "Follow me. We have plenty of guest bedrooms. This place is so big that we each get our own _floor_."


	7. Chapter 7

_Seven_

Emma spent the next several hours in between sleep and awake. At some point, Diana came into her room with a plate of food and a glass of water, which she took gratefully. She hadn't eaten anything since lunch, and she didn't know how long ago that was. After that, it was very quiet, and Emma felt excruciatingly lonely. She wanted to call out to J'onn, but she did not want to break his concentration, since she knew he might be overwhelmed as it was, opening his mind to the masses.

So, she lay on the guest bed and thought about everything that Diana and Batman had said regarding her relationship with J'onn. Batman's suspicion and anger did not surprise her in the least, but Diana's blatant approval had not been expected=. She remembered that J'onn had said that Diana had been the first one to give in when he had told the Justice League about her, but Emma figured that now that something like this had happened, she might change her mind. But that had definitely _not_ happened. Emma was both thrilled about this, and worried.

What was she supposed to do? And what happened if the Justice League _couldn't_ get her mother back? Emma shook her head. No, there was no need for that kind of thinking. That wouldn't get her anywhere. But, if they did get her mother back, what then? Emma was torn between not wanting anyone else to get hurt and desperately wanting to be with J'onn. What if they sent her mother back, and Emma stayed in this dimension? That wouldn't do at all. That would mean giving up all contact with her mother, and, as much as she loved J'onn, that was not something she wanted to do.

After a while, Emma fell into a fitful sleep. Her dreams were plagued with strange creatures and circumstances that she found hard to remember when she awoke. She would drift off to sleep for maybe half an hour, and then wake up for a few minutes, only to drift off again. It was strange for her, as she normally didn't have trouble sleeping. But the worry between her mother and J'onn was weighing down on her mind and heart. Eventually, when she did go to sleep, it was a dreamless one that allowed her body to actually rest a little.

* * *

She didn't know how long she had been asleep when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder, and a deep caramel voice gently say, "Wake up, Emma. Your mother is back."

She opened her eyes, and smiled up into the red-gold of J'onn's. He returned the smile, which put her mind at ease. He wouldn't be smiling if he didn't have good news. "So, what happened?" she asked, sitting up in bed.

He sat beside her and said, "Alice is sleeping. She was exhausted, and a little confused, but otherwise unharmed. Although…"

Emma felt her stomach tighten. "What?"

He sighed. "I had to kill Cosmic Clock. When we found him with your mother, he tried to use her as a human shield, and threatened her life. He had a gun to her head. I didn't have a choice."

"That's right," Emma said, remembering something. "The members of the Justice League don't normally kill their enemies. That must have been hard for you."

"Very much so. I hate killing. But it was a choice between an evil man and an innocent woman. If there was ever a clearer choice… The point is, your mother is safe. She is sleeping at the moment."

"Does… Does she know what happened to her? I mean, does she know where she is? What dimension she's in?"

"From what I have gathered of her surface thoughts, it seems Cosmic Clock explained the situation to her. She is still in the denial stage of accepting where she is and who rescued her, but denial is the first step."

Emma nodded, and they were both silent for a long time.

Eventually, J'onn said in a monotone voice, "I have spoken with Diana and Batman about what was said between the three of you after I left."

Emma flinched. She had known this was coming. She kept her eyes on her lap.

"What would you like to do, Emma?" he asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"Would you like to go back to your own dimension and have us destroy the portal, and pretend like we don't love each other? Would you like to go back to your old life and break off all connection between us? Because if that is what you want, I will not stop you. But if that is only what you _think_ you want – if you are only saying you want that because you think it is the 'right' thing – then please tell me. I think it only fair that you give me warning before you break my heart."

"J'onn, we've only known each other for two months!" Emma broke in. "How could you _possibly_ love me this much?"

He turned his head and looked her in the eyes. And in his mind, he spoke these words to her: _I know your every thought and emotion. Every fear. Every love. Every memory. How could I _not_ love someone whose very _being_ I know and understand inside and out? Humans only gain this kind of complete understanding of one another through years and years of contact and conversation. Humans have not the power to go into a person's mind and see firsthand the experiences that make a person the way they are. I, on the other hand, have had this power since birth, and you gave me full permission to use it. When you understand someone the way I understand you, there is no way around loving that someone. _

_Do not pretend you do not love me the same way. You loved me before I knew you existed. Through circumstances outside of my control, you know much of my history, and my emotions. You understand the pain of the loss of my family, and you understand the slow healing process I went through in order to feel again. And anything you do _not_ know about me I am not hiding from you. You need only ask. Ask and I will show you anything – tell you anything – about myself. If there was a way to lend you my powers, I would, so that you could see me the same way I see you._

_And now, I must ask again. What would you like to do? What is it that you want?_

As he had spoken to her, Emma had felt a flood of emotions and seen a torrent of images and heard a whirlwind of thoughts flow through her mind. And when he was finished speaking, she was mentally and emotionally exhausted. He had just opened himself so completely to her, letting her see and hear and feel every tiny thing that he thought or felt. Within these thoughts and images lay a love so strong that it made her eyes water. She slowly began to sort through her own emotions and thoughts, and came to a conclusion that surprised her, and made her smile despite herself.

She looked up into his eyes and said, "What is it that I want? I want to make love to you."

His eyes widened for a moment, and then softened as he smiled. "You'll have to start with a kiss."

She shook her head. "Not until –

"I know. Stay there." J'onn ran a thumb along her jaw, and then smiled and stood up, backing away a foot or two. He took a few breaths, and then tilted his head back a little and began to shapeshift.

Emma watched with wide eyes. The change was quick. His forehead became elongated and swept back. His eyes were circled in black, like natural eyeliner, that left small, straight lines at the inner and outer corners of his eyes. His body became a tall, lean, and angular shape, full of sharp muscle definition in odd places. His hands and feet became slender and almost feminine. For a moment, Emma thought he looked a little frightening, but then he smiled, and she changed her mind.

"You don't look that bad," she said. "Just a little… different. But your superhero self looks different, too, so that doesn't really mean anything." Slowly, she stood and approached him, lifting a shaking hand to place it on his chest.

He chuckled, the sound reverberating in his chest. "I won't bite. Don't be afraid, Emma. It is still only me."

She swallowed, and with a small smile at him, looked down in the space between them at his crotch. When she could see no obvious genitalia, she said, "Martians aren't… asexual, are they?"

This time he put his head back and laughed. "No, Emma, Martians are not asexual. But I will explain what I mean after."

"After?"

J'onn smiled softly and leaned down towards her.

Emma's heart skipped a beat, and then she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him gently the rest of the way. As their lips met, a burst of color and light flashed behind her eyelids, and a feeling like electricity shot down from her chest to her abdomen. She gasped against the kiss and opened her eyes.

J'onn's eyes stared into hers. And then she pulled him tighter and kissed him again, closing her eyes. The color and light and electricity continued throughout the kiss, which seemed to last forever, until Emma was left standing shakily, leaning her forehead against his chest. He rested a hand gently on her back.

"_J'onn,"_ she whispered, both aloud and in her mind.

"_Hmm?"_

_Nothing. I just… wanted to say your name._

He smiled and rubbed her back a little. _Emma, I love you._

She laughed a little bit. _I love you too, J'onn._

_Please tell me you don't want to leave._

_I don't want to leave._

_Thank you._

Suddenly, J'onn's body went rigid. Emma looked up at him. His eyes were flashing and staring far off, the way they did when he was getting a message from someone telepathically. After a moment, he came back to himself and looked down at Emma. He said, "Your mother is awake."


	8. Chapter 8

_Eight_

Emma squeezed J'onn's hand as they entered the infirmary of the Watchtower. Her mother was sitting up in the bed closest to the door. When she saw her daughter, she smiled, which Emma thought was a bit odd, considering everything that happened over the past day or so.

She and J'onn walked up to the bed, remaining hand-in-hand. Emma looked down at the floor, and there was a long, awkward silence. Finally, she asked quietly, "Aren't you angry at me, Mom?"

Her mother laughed softly. "Why would I be angry at you?"

"If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be in a hospital bed right now."

Alice laughed again. "Honestly, I'm not sure _what_ to think. But I'm definitely not angry."

There was another long silence, though it was less awkward this time.

And then Alice said, "And who is this?"

Emma looked up at her. "Don't you know?"

"Of course I _know_, but that doesn't mean you can get away with not introducing us properly."

Emma sighed. "Mom, this is J'onn J'onzz. He's a Martian, which you can probably tell because of his… well, you know. He's _green_."

In a completely monotone voice, J'onn said, "You forgot _tall_ and _handsome_."

Emma giggled.

J'onn let go of her hand and faced Alice. "It's nice to finally meet you properly, Ms. Whitaker."

Emma's mother smiled and shook her head, saying, "Just _Alice_ is fine."

Again, there was another silence.

And then Alice laughed. "Does this mean you lied when you said he was twenty, Emma?"

"Oh… Yeah. Sorry."

Alice looked at J'onn. "So, how old are you _really_?"

"I'm not sure you want to know the answer to that question, Ma'am. It might make you inclined to push your daughter away from a relationship with me."

Alice laughed. "You're not worried about me knowing that you're a _Martian_, but you _are_ worried about me knowing how old you are?"

"Age seems to play a major role in romantic relationships between humans. However, if you really want to know, I'll still tell you."

She eyed him for a moment, seeming to make up her mind about it, and then smiled and shook her head. "You don't have to tell me. I think you're right. I probably don't want to know. Just… take care of Emma, okay?"

"I will."

At that moment, Batman barged into the room, followed soon thereafter by the rest of the Justice League. He said, "All right, that's enough time alone. We need to discuss what will happen now."

"I'm sorry, you three," Diana said. "We tried to get him to leave you alone for a little longer, but – well, you know how he is."

"The second we know for sure that Emma's mother is okay, they both are leaving."

Immediately, Emma stepped up to Batman, lifted her chin, and said, "_No_."

He glared down at her, and there was a palpable silence in the air for many moments. Eventually, he said slowly, "_What_ did you say?"

"I _said_ no. I'm _not_ leaving. And if I _do_, then you have to _swear_ to keep the portal open, or find some other way for J'onn and I to visit each other freely. Those are my only conditions and they are not negotiable."

In her mind, she heard J'onn's voice. _I think you may have gone too far, Emma._

_ I don't care._

Batman's grit his teeth and looked about ready to explode. To be honest, Emma was scared to death of what he might do to her in his anger, but then he seemed to calm down a little, and turned so that his side was facing her, and crossed his arms. He said, "I give up trying to protect all of you. If you want to leave that damned portal open and put all of us in danger, then go ahead. But if anything bad happens, then don't come crying to me!" With that, he turned all the way around and stormed out of the room.

Emma took a deep breath, one that she had been holding for way too long.

"Wow," Hawkgirl said, staring at the empty doorway that Batman had just gone through. "I can't believe you just stood up to him like that."

"It was really scary," Emma said quietly. "But not as scary as the thought of losing J'onn forever."

She felt him come up behind her, and saw his arms wrap around her from behind.

"I didn't go _too_ far, did I?" she asked.

He chuckled. "You are worried about that _now_? I warned you already that you may have offended him, but you kept going. You shouldn't worry now. What happened has happened, and what matters now is where we go from here."

"But… is this really okay? Me staying here? That seems… impossible."

"Remember what I told you," Diana said, stepping up to her. "We all are okay with this relationship. Well, everyone but Batman. But I get the feeling that he'll come around once he realizes that you're not going anywhere."

Emma sighed and turned to face her mother. "But what about _you_? I'm sure _you_ don't want to spend forever here. We have a home back in our own dimension. I go to college there."

Alice sat quietly in thought for a moment, and then she said, "Batman said he'd keep the portal open, right? Why don't I go home once I'm rested, and you can travel between. You can still go to college and whatnot, but when you have spare time, you can come here and visit."

"That still seems impossible to me," Emma murmured, but then she looked up and sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter right now, anyways. What I need right _now_ is a shower and some new clothes."

"I don't know what to do about the clothes, unless someone goes and buys some for you," Hawkgirl said. "I don't think either Diana's or my clothes will fit."

"Why not just throw them in the laundry?" Diana said.

"Hey," Flash broke in, "if we're done talking about the interesting stuff, I'm gonna go now."

"Me too," Green Lantern agreed.

Emma laughed. And slowly, the group began going their separate ways, to different parts of the Watchtower.

* * *

A little while later, Emma rested her head against the side of a massive indoor Jacuzzi-bathtub. She had laughed when she'd seen it. At first, she had thought that it looked completely out of place, but then she remembered how huge the Watchtower really was, and it seemed to fit right in. The tub was filled with bubbles that churned in the water jets. It was a silly situation. Emma had not had a bubble bath since she was eight.

But, as she sat in the Jacuzzi, she looked around at how big it was, and felt suddenly lonely. And then she had an idea. A crazy idea. An idea that made her face flush and caused a warm feeling to spread inside her abdomen.

_J'onn?_ she thought quietly.

_Yes, Emma?_

Just his voice in her mind made her blush again. It was deeper than usual, and had a husky quality to it.

His voice made it impossible to ask, so she said instead, _Don't you know already? Don't you know what I'm going to ask?_

_ Yes, I do. I'll be right there._

_ Okay._

About thirty seconds later, Emma saw a transparent, blob-like shape come through the door of the bathroom. When it was all the way inside the room, it became tangible again, and turned into J'onn. He was in his natural form.

Emma smiled and laughed. "That was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Why didn't you just become intangible in your regular body shape?"

"It's faster if I do it the way I did. I can move faster if I let my body go loose."

Emma stared at him for a moment, and then shook her head and laughed again.

J'onn went farther into the bathroom, and then stepped up and into the bath, never taking his off of Emma. His eyes were intense, and they glowed.

Emma looked down, blushing. _When you look at me like that, I…_

Slowly, he made his way over to her. When he was close enough, he put his hand under her chin and lifted it. _You what?_

Her heart skipped a beat, and then she leaned forward and kissed him. And the pinpricks of light flashed across her thoughts and behind her eyelids. Random images of places and people and animals came and went through her mind. Eventually, Emma broke away and asked, _What is all that? When we kiss? All those bursts of colors and images?_

He smiled, and then rested his forehead against hers and breathed. _It is a breaking down of the barriers in our minds. It is a sharing of random streams of conscious and subconscious thought. Normally, our brains, which are interlinked, are able to process and either block or allow this flow of thought, but when we are extremely emotional and sidetracked, our brains lose this ability to some degree._

_I understand._

They spent what seemed like hours in there, talking and caressing, and kissing. They spoke of simple things and deep things – of good memories with family, or what their favorite color was, or what the future might hold for themselves and others. It was mostly an innocent thing, their time spent together. Emma felt almost as if she were a little girl again, laughing with a playmate. To some degree, she knew that was a little weird, considering she was sitting naked in a bath with a man, (well, a Martian, really) but she didn't care. It was the most fun she'd had in ages with another person, just talking and being herself.

When the time came to get out, she _really_ didn't want to, and told J'onn so. He only chuckled softly and told her not to worry because it wasn't over yet.

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking up into his face and suddenly feeling nervous excitement. She wondered what had changed in the last five seconds to make her feel this, as she had stopped feeling nervous a long time ago.

What he said was, "Hmm. Perhaps – never mind. Forget I said anything."

And then she _knew_ what he was thinking and immediately felt two conflicting emotions. She desperately wanted to make love to J'onn, yet she knew that on some level, she definitely wasn't ready. _Oh…_ she said quietly, reverting back to telepathy. _Well, I… I'm not opposed to it._

_ Yet you cannot even say it._

_ You didn't say it, _either_._

_ Because I felt your emotions and knew you were not ready._

Emma suddenly felt like she had just been kicked in the stomach. _But, I…_ And to her embarrassment, she began to cry. _I –_

_ Emma._ J'onn wrapped both arms around her and gently rocked her as they sat there. _This is what I mean. If you are crying over this, then you are not ready for sex._

She dug her fingernails into his back. _But I _want –

_Listen to me._ He pulled away slightly and looked into her eyes. Gently, he said, _I am not going _anywhere_. I will _always_ be with you. I will _always _be here. There is plenty of time. I promise you, I'm _not_ going to disappear, even after you go back to your own dimension. Okay? _Nothing_ is going to stop me from being with you. Not even if Batman _does_ close the portal. You do not need to rush. I know that this is what you are worried about, but don't be. Don't worry._

Emma choked on a sob and buried her face against his chest. _Thank you, J'onn._

* * *

**Author's Note: Hey, guys. Honestly, I'm not sure if I should end the story here - which seems a little abrupt to me - or to tack on a few more chapters. I don't quite know where to go from here if I _do_ write more, so for now, this is the end of the story. Though, you may ****want to check back every now and then, in case I add more. Or I might just start another book entirely, filled with little random encounters between Emma and the Justice League. Honestly, I don't do so well with linear chapter books. I much prefer writing random snippets, as my attention span is the size of a flea's. Anyways, thanks for reading! - Fira**


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